featured photo wednesday

I love the expression in those eyes, and the colors in this photograph blending together to create a great image. I also like the angle at which Roberto choose to photograph this image. If he was standing up shooting down we might have lost the blurred kids in the background. Nice job!

I also like to spend time processing my shots when I first upload them to the computer, then I leave for a few days for even hours. When I come back to the image, I feel as if my eyes see the picture a bit better. As for this image, I wouldn’t change a thing!

On Wednesday nights, in July, there is a “kids market” in the centre of our hometown, where families trade used toys, clothes and whatever children have outgrown. It is a moment of gathering and entertainment, with street performers and concerts. I like to go and just put a prime lens on my camera, no flash – in the spirit of street photography, you may say. One of those evenings of last year, we were selling some of our children’s old stuff, and while people where crowding around our desk, my son was sitting aside, against a window – tired, bored, “begging” for something? I was planning to try out my new 28mm f/1.8, which I love on a full frame sensor, because I can blur the background and still see some perspective in the picture. But that is not the point. I had just taken my camera out of the bag, hardly set properly, but my eye didn’t want to miss the shot. It came out a bit blurred, in fact – shutter a tad slow, focus on the wrong part? Can you tell?
I usually spend time post-processing my shots, until the colours come out to my satisfaction. And perhaps a month later, say, I rework them in a totally different fashion – taste changes: black and white, or more saturated.
But there is something that sticks to me in this version of the picture of my son I took that night. Perhaps it is the look in his eyes, that says “Dad, you always taking pictures?”, or his dirty hand grabbing the air. Or it is the colours I finally (?) got. I cannot quite tell.
In any case, to me it is one view to digital photography: seize that moment and work on it. It will stay.

The bokeh on this image is absolutely amazing! I love the idea of taking out an old lens, dusting it off and seeing the magic it brings after all those years. And this lens can really bring it! After seeing this image you might want to check what’s in your old camera bag… Thank-you for sharing this image today!

Last summer I had a chance to use a wonderful M42 screw mount lens from my uncle’s (unfortunately) long retired Zenit 35mm camera on my Nikon D7000.

It was an old Industar 50-2, a 50mm f/3.5 prime made in the USSR in the late 1970’s, around the time when i was born. Optically, a copy of the much more famous Tessar by Zeiss, Industar 50-2 used to be shipped as a kit lens with various SLR’s made at the time.

I had never looked through this lens before, although I had smiled at it many times – most of my childhood pictures were taken by my uncle. Mounting the lens on my camera felt somewhat like assembling a time machine.

After snapping pictures of everything i could lay my eyes on for the following 5 – 10 minutes, as the schedule was pretty tight, I was really looking forward to seeing what the RAW’s looked like on the computer screen. And oh was I surprised by the images this tiny Russian “pancake” made, especially by the quality of bokeh and the way it rendered colors. It did lack a lot of contrast (some scratches on the front glass and quite a bit of internal dust had a lot to do with this), but I took care of it in post, trying not to affect the colors much, or not at all.

Quite happy with the set here, I already got myself one of these little giants not long after that day.

Thank you Phivos for submitting this beautiful portrait! The light is so soft and beautiful, such a great expression. Awesome! Photography is amazing, it captures those moments in our lives that we want to remember. Nicely done!

If you have a photo you would like to have featured, please email me at submissionsdigitalcamfancom . Every Wednesday I’ll spotlight a new photo. Don’t forget to include links to your photography site, Flickr, twitter you get the point, we want to be able to see your other work! For more detailed info on how to, check out the Featured Photo detail page!

Usually I prefer capturing landscapes, dark and mysterious sceneries expressing a somewhat secret warmth and euphoria. This time a new kind of “landscape” was captured unexpectedly by my lens, another kind of “beauty” surprised me as an amateur photographer.

During a trip with friends to the Cypriot Mountain sites, I asked Elena to pose under the sunlight for a quick picture. Sometimes it is simply amazing what the right time, place, and person can do. The natural light exposed the beauty and “froze” time at a positive and inspiring moment.